Whereas these bystanders have been civilians all their lives!

By now, those bystanders should have known how to behave like conscientious civilians and risk getting shot or arrested. Maybe they should take some responsibility.

There are numerous instances out there where one or more person would rather shoot a video (for things big and small) than offer actual help.

obstruction of a cop isn't. Jesus.

Even if the cop is in the wrong, and the citizen has good intentions, the heat of the moment may get the citizen killed at worse and jailed at best.

who will physically intervene and risk their own safety when they see a wrong being committed are few and far between.

I sure would.

Shooting a video that can be used as evidence is about the best most of us could do.

I don't think I'd be brave enough and I think the guilt of not doing so would be with me the rest of my life.

In the end, I guess this all was meant to be. If someone had saved Floyd we would not be seeing the sea change of enough is enough regarding how law enforcement is practiced and how the criminal justice system is so slanted against the poor/minorities.

Are we surprised?

"Obstruction of a legal process" is a crime, let alone assaulting an officer. If a person of color was to do have tried that for George Floyd, they would likely have been dead before they hit the pavement, and the officer exonerated.

I don't think that the jury will buy that it wasn't the other officers' responsibility to intervene and stop the murder, and it's clear he's appealing to a future jury.

You seriously think that the 17 year old girl who filmed the murder would "rather" have done that if there was any way she could have intervened otherwise? Many times videoing police in action will get one's camera destroyed on the spot, and often arrested....especially if done while Black.

arrest go down. All it would have taken is for one person to step up, maybe just moving in closer would have been enough to distract Chauvin so he got up. But no one was willing to risk their own safety.

for anyone , and that includes the rookie cops, to intervene.

It does not matter that the murderer was their boss.

It does not matter that the murderer was a fellow cop.

But I guess if they can't do their job properly then that was probably why they got hired.

Smiling, hand in his pocket.

You say you would not have the courage to risk getting shot, so why are you so insistent that others should have done so? That murderer was crushing Floyd for nearly NINE minutes! Clearly, distraction was not an issue.

Four cops were there... three forming a perimeter around Chauvin. Anyone attempting to move through and past that perimeter would have been, at best, stopped cold and arrested. At worst, another corpse.

They will arrest and or brutalize you as well.

The video has a soundtrack and you can hear people begging them to let the man up, get off his neck. Yeah, no one physically tried to stop it--they knew what happens if you lay hands on a cop.

He’s just chumming the waters, hoping to influence potential pro-cop jurors. He’s expensive, too. Bet Bob Kroll’s union is paying his fees.

all I can think about is tea.

I'm terrible.

But at least his name isn’t Formosa Oolong.

I'm catching the scent of it, all the way over here in Texas.

which is absolutely none whatsoever, fuck right on off you miserable sod. Lordy, you cannot fix stupid.

being shot yourself but it is against the law to stop someone from killing another person?

Would you get charged with assaulting an officer if you just tried to throw him off of George so he would stop killing him?

I yelled at a cop harrassing a black man once and spent the night in jail for disorderly conduct, they dropped the charge, but got their point across, by having me having to spend the night in jail for nothing

Blaming bystanders? That’s pretty low down.

before he thought they'd done enough to help Floyd?

Without her smarts, we'd have just another case in the archive.

Instead, we have a summer of real change:

[link:https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213568582|]

of the times I failed to intervene with the police. Fear was decidedly the reason.

The first time was in New York City back in the early 70s. I was 21 or 22, and walking our beloved Great Dane back home to our apartment. A group of cops was stationed in the median of Houston Street, and they began very loudly to yell out their fantasies about activities they supposed my dog and I were practicing in private. Needless to say, it was very lurid and trashy. I was mortified and angry, and my first instinct was to cross over and get their badge numbers to report. But here was I, a 5 foot two slip of a thing, and even with my giant dog (who was more of a wuss than me, a gentle giant), I was too afraid of what could happen.

The second time was a decade later in, of all places, Minneapolis, to which we had recently moved. I was strolling my 3-month-old screaming baby around Lake Harriet in a carriage to try to get him to sleep, a toddler in tow for the walk. I saw a group of policemen with two teenage (white) boys placed face down against a squad car, hands up on the roof and helpless, not resisting at all. And these cops started repeatedly slamming them into the car, pushing and beating them, for no apparent reason. I was totally alarmed at this unnecessary violence, and angry. Again, my first instinct was to walk over and get their badge numbers. But again I stopped: I had an infant and toddler to protect, and I thought better of confronting these enraged goons.

To this day I regret my cowardice, but I don’t blame any bystander for not intervening that day.

Is that what this defense attorney would argue while defending his Nazi client?

Or why not blame slavery on the slaves while we're at it?

They were intervening the best they could... vocally. Lay one hand on the "special citizen" officers and they would have all been shot dead.

Outrages assertion!

Right.

when dealing with armed people. They yelled many times to get off his neck. One brave young woman stood their steadily and recorded the entire grisly scene with her cell phone's video camera.

That's as much intervention as was possible for bystanders, frankly.

killed, and chocked.

so the cops lawyer is supporting people to take the law into their own hands and attack the police?

I thought well, call 911.

Not sure if I would identify the killer as a cop or not. Or just describe the medical emergency and then theyd send an ambulance? And then the two agencies, the EMT's and cops could deal with each other? Now that would be interesting.... Or woud they send a higher up from the PD out? At the very least there would be some interesting conversations between the 911 call center and the PD.......

Its good to think about these things just in case

Maybe there needs to be a federal level 9-1-1 to report the cops?

People are talking about defunding cops & this moron just provided a reason for why we need fewer cops.
Bystanders can just handle it?
Idiot.

Saying that unarmed civilians had a duty to interfere with an action by four armed cops reeks of desperateness. The civilians did intervene -- a 17-year-old girl documented the entire event, so the police couldn't lie about it afterwards.

He knows what he is saying is ridiculous, but he throwing out potential juror bait.

throws a cloud on how George Floyd met his demise.

Try again counselor

screamed at them to get back. Desperate flailing to excuse immoral behavior is all this guy has.

Police are going to ID anyone who they feel is "working against them" or "don't have their back". They may not show up to your house in a timely fashion next time you need help. Politicians who interact with them will probably be subject to same treatment. After all there are "trouble makers" out there who could threaten your family and maybe we won't be there when you need us.

This is one reason I have trouble with unions, too often they "protect" members who shouldn't be protected (and often there are times when offences are perpetrated against fellow union members).

arresting somebody. If one wants to stay alive, that is.